Why They Hated Pinocchio
Frederica Mathewes-Green on Real versus Disney Children
I am the sole member of a very tiny club: As far as I can tell, I am the only reviewer in America who liked Roberto Benigni’s production of Pinocchio. I had sat all alone in a theater, thoroughly charmed by the production, the costumes, cinematography, and performances. And I wondered why I was alone. Later I checked a website that catalogues film reviews and did a double take. This site gives films a percentage score based on the number of positive reviews; the stylish film The Hours, for example, was enjoying an 88 percent rating. The site’s editors had not found a single review of Pinocchio they could classify as positive. Pinocchio scored a zero.
As I scanned these reviews, I saw a theme emerging. Some showed vehement hatred and mockery, others were merely cool, but all of them seemed somewhat puzzled. Reviewers hadn’t gotten the Pinocchio they were expecting. Instead of Disney’s chubby-cheeked charmer, Benigni’s Pinocchio is impulsive and exhausting, selfish and reckless. Reviewers couldn’t warm up to him, particularly because he was played by Benigni himself. They balked at the idea of a grown man portraying the puppet boy, in some cases expressing revulsion and disgust.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Frederica Mathewes-Green is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and a contributor to the Christian Millennial History Project multi-volume series. Her books include At the Corner of East and Now (Putnam), The Illumined Heart (Paraclete Press), and The Open Door: Entering the Sanctuary of Icons and Prayer (Paraclete Press). She lives in Linthicum, Maryland, with her husband Fr. Gregory, pastor of Holy Cross Orthodox Church. They have three children and three grandchildren.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
31.6—November/December 2018
on Childhood Encounters with a Christmas Icon by Rebecca Sicree
17.6—July/August 2004
Old Science Confronts a Formidable Challenge in the Scientific ID Movement by Jay W. Richards
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
